Diversity, Inclusion & Self-Care: New York [Virtual Summit]

Nicholas Tiger joined the neobank start-up Upgrade, Inc. as Associate General Counsel in 2021 overseeing consumer borrowing, new product development, and marketing guidance. Prior to joining Upgrade, Nick was Senior Counsel for Capital One and provided regulatory counsel to product, process, and customer service managers. While at Capital One, Nick was appointed to the Legal Diversity & Inclusion Committee and took on a leadership role in OutFront, the LGBTQ+ employee resource group.  Identifying himself as neurodiverse, Nick also regularly speaks out against mental health and disability stigma in the workplace.

In addition to being passionate about driving diversity in the legal field, he has also been widely recognized for his pro bono service where he has appeared in contested removal proceedings before the Board of Immigration Appeals. He was recently named a finalist for the 2019 Volunteer of the Year award for the Greater Washington DC metro area.  A new San Francisco resident, he can normally be found outdoors exploring the sights and sounds of the Bay Area.

Nicholas received his J.D. with an emphasis in International Law from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. While in school, Nicholas clerked for both a Federal Magistrate Judge in the Western District of Missouri and an Administrative Court of Appeals Judge abroad in Guanajuato, Mexico. He also holds a B.A. from Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri.

Jennifer is a Partner in the firm devoting her practice to representing individuals as well as public and private employers in complex employment matters and other areas of civil litigation including civil rights and municipal law issues.  Jennifer has significant experience litigating matters in both state and federal trial and appellate courts, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and New Jersey Division on Civil Rights, and through arbitration and mediation. Jennifer has managed litigation involving claims of harassment and discrimination on the bases of sex, gender, pregnancy, age, race, religion, national origin, and disability, as well as whistleblower claims, family and medical leave related claims, civil rights claims, and  issues of retaliation, defamation, and breach of contract.

Jennifer’s broad litigation experience bolsters her ability to provide a multifaceted and comprehensive approach to a variety of issues facing both individuals and businesses in the employment context.  She regularly counsels clients regarding employment related issues, including but not limited to, disciplinary action and termination, compliance and policy matters, workplace restructuring, compensation arrangements, hiring and termination documentation, and agency investigations and audits.

Jennifer applies her vast employment litigation experience as the Co-Chair of the firm’s Cannabis Law Group. She is committed to remaining at the forefront of legal considerations relevant to the cannabis industry.

Jennifer’s practice also extends into the field of Education & School Law, counseling clients in the areas of Individualized Education Plans (IEP); Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying (HIB) and other education related issues.

Jennifer conducts seminars and trainings for employers on human resources and employment-related topics, including best management practices, diversity and inclusion efforts, disabled workers and reasonable accommodations, effective hiring, wage and hour compliance, unlawful harassment and discrimination, internal investigations, employee training and employment law updates.

Jennifer is the chair of the firm’s diversity and inclusion committee, which is committed to cultivating diversity of thought, action and background in an effort to better serve our clients, our employees and our community.  She is also a member of the firm’s technology committee, responsible for ensuring that the firm’s technologies and innovation keep current with the needs of our clients, as well as with industry standards.

In 2012, Jennifer was selected as a fellow for the New Leaders Council, a premier leadership and professional development, training, mentoring, networking, and career advancement program for young professionals. From 2013-2019 she has been selected to the New Jersey Rising Stars list by New Jersey Super Lawyers. In 2014, Jennifer also had the honor of being named to the New Jersey Law Journal New Leaders of the Bar list, one of only 50 attorneys chosen to represent a new wave of leadership in the New Jersey legal profession.  

In 2016, Jennifer was named a member of the inaugural class of The Irish Legal 100’s Rising Stars, a listing of distinguished legal professionals of Irish descent under age 40 from across the United States. Additionally, in 2016, Jennifer received Martindale-Hubbell’s AV Preeminent Rating: the highest level rating based on reviews from members of the bar and judiciary for her professional excellence.

In 2017, Jennifer was appointed by the New Jersey Supreme Court to serve on the District VIII Fee Arbitration Committee, which has the jurisdiction to arbitrate fee disputes between clients and attorneys in Middlesex County.

Jennifer is presently a member of New Jersey Women Lawyer’s Association and New Brunswick Bar Association.  Previously, she served as a board member of the New Jersey State Bar Association Young Lawyer’s Division, member of the Middlesex County Bar Association and member of the New Jersey Defense Association.

Jennifer received her undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania, where she graduated with cum laude distinction. She received her law degree from Villanova University School of Law, where she served as secretary of the Pro Bono Law Society and as a managing editor of the Villanova Sports and Entertainment Law Journal.

Inna N. Jackson is SVP & Managing Associate General Counsel, serving as U.S. Head of Legal, Wholesale Lending & Transaction Banking as well as Regional Legal Head, North America, GLCM and GTRF.  In this role, Inna leads a cross-functional legal focused on transforming customer and employee experiences through integrated offerings, digital evolution, alliances and innovation in Payments, Liquidity, Cash Management, Trade and Receivables Finance, Wholesale Lending and Issuer Services.  Inna is also a key member of the cross-functional team standing up HSBC’s global Banking-as-a-Service proposition for businesses and financial institutions.  Prior to joining HSBC in October 2019, Inna spent 9 years at American Express, most of that time focused on enabling initiatives for Amex Digital Labs, Enterprise Digital and Digital Partnerships and Development teams.  Among her accomplishments, Inna led a key team supporting the launch and expansion of numerous strategic partnerships and related product launches with Apple, Google, Amazon, Facebook, PayPal and Samsung.  Inna also served as a key thought leader and contributor in the development and evolution of Amex’s data strategy framework.  Prior to Amex, Inna spent 7 years in private practice as an M&A lawyer.   Inna Graduated from Fordham University Law School, where she was Editor-in-Chief of the International Law Journal and a Louis Stein Scholar in Law and Ethics.  She is fluent in Russian and Spanish and speaks Italian and French.  

Heather N. Bowen, Esq. is a results-driven, solutions-oriented, problem-solving attorney who focuses her practice on domestic and international trademark, copyright, licensing, technology, new media, data privacy, and business law matters. She has experience serving as corporate counsel to global companies in both the media & entertainment and healthcare technology spaces. Heather has also helped over 125 startup businesses in New York avoid pitfalls as they navigated from newly-commenced startups to established and successful corporate entities. She continues to be a thought leader in the intellectual property and technology fields through frequent publications in the legal press as well as her effective involvement in multiple bar association committees.

Dawn Steele is the Vice President, Global Anti-Money Laundering and Trade Sanctions Officer for Automatic Data Processing, Inc. and the BSA/Anti-Money Laundering and Trade Sanctions Officer for ADP Trust Company, N.A. She was charged with the implementation of the global anti-money laundering (AML) and economic and trade sanctions programs and is responsible for providing oversight and strategic guidance related to global AML and economic and trade sanctions compliance with U.S. and international laws, with primary responsibility for maintaining effective AML and economic and trade sanctions compliance programs and related training across the enterprises. She collaborates with different functional areas to help drive the business initiatives and growth while ensuring compliance. Dawn was previously the AML Compliance Officer for ADP’s payroll card program, charged with the full roll out, implementation and oversight of the then newly adopted AML Program, ensuring compliance with federal and state laws, regulatory interactions with state examinations and licensing, third party compliance oversight, and AML and state money transmitter law training. Dawn’s legal responsibilities at ADP have also included supporting the legal functions for various business groups and areas, including ADP’s employment background screening, electronic I-9 employment verification and payroll card businesses, and money movement and banking areas, where she was responsible for monitoring, and ensuring compliance with laws and regulations, which have included the Fair Credit Reporting Act, states private investigator licensing requirements, employment eligibility regulations, E-Verify, Bank Secrecy Act, economic and trade sanctions including the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), state money transmitter laws and NACHA.  She has been a frequent presenter at industry conferences on topics related to AML, OFAC and other payroll card compliance matters and has participated in industry groups to help shape legislation and best practices related to payroll cards and employment background screening, among other compliance areas. Dawn has been actively involved in various ADP diversity initiatives, which has included serving as a member of the Southwest Regional Diversity Council, serving as the first President of the West Coast Cultivate Business Resource Group (BRG), serving as an inaugural member of the CULTIVATE – National Board of African American BRGs and is a current member of ADP CULTIVATE BRG, ADP Women in Leadership and ADP Pride BRG.

Dawn spent the first 10 years of her legal practice with the international law firm of Pillsbury Winthrop LLP, and, just prior to joining ADP, was briefly with Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP, practicing in the areas of securities, mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity financings, IPOs, compliance and general corporate matters, representing both privately held and publicly traded companies.  Dawn was involved in various diversity initiatives while in private practice, including having served as the Co-Chair of Pillsbury Winthrop LLP’s then newly formed Diversity Committee.

Throughout her career, Dawn has served as a mentor for different mentoring programs and has formally and informally mentored high school girls, women and other professionals, and she is currently a mentor to law students as part of the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, Alumni Mentor Program and Women’s Law Society Attorney Mentor Program.  Dawn is also the Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Redlands-Riverside.

Dawn received a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, and a B.A. degree from Bernard M. Baruch College, City University of New York.

Jessica Taub Rosenberg is a leading trial lawyer in the employment field having represented employers and prominent senior executives for over a decade in employment-related litigation before federal and state courts, administrative agencies and arbitration panels. Jessica regularly defends claims of discrimination, retaliation and harassment; disputes involving the enforcement of employment contracts and non-competition covenants; and tort claims such as fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, tortious interference and defamation. Jessica also conducts internal investigations on employee misconduct in the workplace.

Jessica routinely advises clients on employment policies and practices and conducts employee trainings. In 2020, she began advising clients on Covidrelated employment issues, from mandating tests and vaccines in the workplace to mitigating litigation risk arising from Covid.

Jessica was named a 2021 Notable Woman in Law by Crain’s New York Business and named one of Lawdragon’s 500 Leading U.S. EmploymentLawyers. She was shortlisted by Euromoney as Best in Labor and Employment for its 2020 Women in Business Law Americas Awards and as a 2019 Labor & Employment New York Attorney of the Year. In 2019, she was awarded the Burton Award for excellence in Legal Writing. Jessica was recognized as a New York “Labor & Employment Star” by Benchmark Litigation, as well as included in Benchmark Litigation’s Under 40 Hot List. She was shortlisted as a 2019 Rising Star in Labor & Employment for Euromoney Legal Media Group’s Americas Rising Stars Awards. Jessica was also named a 2019 Woman Worth Watching by Diversity Journal and recognized as a Super Lawyers Rising Star in the area of Employment & Labor.

Anushree Bagrodia, Vice President, is the lead lawyer for Transformation of the Law Department at Mastercard. She is responsible for the strategy and execution, including change management across global legal functions and departments. Prior to this, Anushree held number of roles at Mastercard in London and New York where she guided senior management on complex global deal structures, provided counsel on creative solutions for product implementation, advised on risk assessment and negotiated multifaceted commercial agreements. Before joining Mastercard, Anushree worked with Sidley Austin in London, advising global clients from multiple industries on mergers and acquisitions and commercial transactions. Anushree chaired the UK Chapter of Women’s ERG at Mastercard. Currently she is an active member of AABANY and sits on the Finance Committee of Leadership Council on Legal Diversity. Graduate of Oxford University, Anushree has a diverse professional portfolio and has experience of working in India, UK and the US.

Anjli Garg currently serves as Director, Associate General Counsel in the legal department of Citibank, N.A., where she counsels the global B2B card payments business, working with Citi’s largest global institutional clients.  She is part of Citi Legal’s Global Diversity Council and Vice Chair of the ABA SIL Wellness Taskforce. Before joining Citibank, she served as V.P. and Senior Counsel in the General Counsel’s Office of American Express, supporting the global commercial card and interactive businesses. In her in-house roles, she practices in a variety of legal disciplines, including privacy and data security, internet/e-commerce, intellectual property, bank regulatory, securities and bankruptcy. Before moving in-house, she was an associate at Sullivan & Cromwell, engaged primarily in securities and project finance transactions.  Anjli has also spoken at conferences and published articles on privacy and data security.  She has 20 years of experience as a corporate transactional attorney, and obtained her J.D. from NYU School of Law.  Anjli is also an Energy Leadership Index – Master Practitioner, and in the process of becoming a Certified Professional Coach through iPEC, which is an ICF accredited coach training program.

As Ampersand’s Chief Privacy Officer and General Counsel, Noga Rosenthal is responsible for guiding the company’s privacy and legal initiatives; she holds deep expertise in the development and implementation of comprehensive privacy programs. 

Noga previously served as Chief Privacy Officer at Epsilon where she led the company’s worldwide privacy, compliance and regulatory activities. Prior to Epsilon, she served as General Counsel and Vice President for Compliance and Policy for the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI), helping craft industry standards around the responsible collection and use of data for digital advertising, running its compliance program and ensuring that member companies delivered on the promise of self-regulation for interest-based advertising. Furthermore, she also led global legal affairs for WPP’s Xaxis, a pioneering programmatic digital media business, as SVP and General Counsel. 

Noga is a member of the Women Leading Privacy Advisory Board of the International Association of Privacy Professional (IAPP). She is currently a member of the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s Public Policy Group, State Privacy Working Group and Legal Affairs Committee.

She has also served on the IAPP’s Education Advisory Board and was an active member of the UK Data Protection Network, providing guidance on the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Noga also sat on the Advisory Board of the Digital Advertising Alliance and the Data Standards Committee of the Data and Marketing Association. Bureau. She also served as co-chair of the Privacy Committee of the Mobile Marketing Association. 

Noga received her bachelor’s degree in English and Political Science from Rutgers and a J.D. from Fordham Law School.

Alnisa Bell is a Labor & Employment Partner in the New York office of Seyfarth Shaw LLP, and is licensed to practice in New York and New Jersey. Alnisa defends employers against individual and multi-plaintiff discrimination cases and high-stakes litigation. She has served as counsel for several high profile employment disputes and has litigated over one hundred cases in state and federal courts across the country. Not only is Alnisa a skilled litigator, but companies look to Alnisa to provide advice and counsel on compliance with state and federal laws. As an advocate for diversity in the legal profession, Alnisa speaks regularly on equity and inclusion and was a contributing writer of a blog that provided advice to women of color attorneys navigating law firm culture. Alnisa is also a member of the New Jersey Supreme Court’s Committee on Minority Concerns and is active in various professional organizations in New York and New Jersey. Alnisa earned her J.D. from Rutgers Law School and her A.B. degree, magna cum laude, from Bryn Mawr College.

Nishat Ruiter is General Counsel of TED conferences, a nonprofit organization that believes passionately
in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and, ultimately, the world. Through creativity, and a deep
respect for TED’s mission, Nishat’s work is centered on ensuring that TED’s legal requirements are met
through a combination of practical and creative solutions that meets its needs, while still retaining the
authentic TED voice across every area where possible. She manages the legal issues with respect to
TED’s licensing, partnerships, TM, brand protection, TED’s code of conduct, data privacy, copyright,
transactions, and all corporate legal matters. Prior to TED, she worked for over 15 years as in house
counsel, and in private practice including working as Associate General Counsel at CA Technologies, a
Fortune 500 software technology company in a variety of roles including managing the North American
legal department of 25 lawyers and contract managers, managing all integration issues for 7 companies
as lead counsel and advising on regulatory compliance issues for government sales, marketing,
advertising, and social media.
Nishat serves as a member of the Board for International School Services, a not for profit providing
international schools and teachers global and education support, including diversity and leadership
frameworks, on the editorial board of the London-based International In-house Counsel Journal and a
founding member of One Hillsborough, a grassroots not for profit created to support oneness of humanity
in her community through education, advocacy and programming with other like minded organizations
and stakeholders in her town. Nishat holds a BA in Political Science from Rutgers University, a JD from
Delaware Law School (formerly Widener) and international certificates of practice in the Netherlands .

Jessica Golden Cortes is a partner in the Labor & Employment Practice Group of Davis & Gilbert. Ms. Cortes regularly counsels and actively litigates on behalf of her clients in all aspects of employment law, and frequently conducts employment trainings across the country, educating her clients in subjects such as respect in the workplace, unconscious bias and manager best practices. Representative counseling services include:

• Conducting internal company investigations of discrimination complaints;
• Advising clients on:
  – Hiring, terminations and reductions in force
  – Restrictive covenants
  – Wage and hour issues
  – Federal and state family and medical leave laws
• Drafting employment policies, handbooks and employment and separation agreements.

In addition, Ms. Cortes represents employers in federal and state courts, federal, state and local administrative agencies and in arbitrations and mediations nationwide in the areas of race, sex, age, disability, failure to hire and other discrimination claims, and in breach of contract disputes arising primarily from alleged breaches of continuing post-employment obligations and for cause terminations.  She has successfully defended several of the firm’s clients against claims of discrimination before the EEOC and state agencies in multiple states, including New York, Connecticut, California, Ohio and Michigan.

Ms. Cortes has been recognized by The Legal 500 United States in the area of labor and employment: workplace and employment counseling area for seven consecutive years (2013-2019). She has also been recognized as a leading lawyer for labor & employment law by Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business (2012-2016). In addition, she has been selected as a Super Lawyer (2018 and 2019) and Rising Star (2013-2016) by New York Metro Super Lawyers, and named a winner in the Esquire Industry Practice category for SmartCEO’s 2015 CPA & ESQ Awards. Before joining Davis & Gilbert, Ms. Cortes was a litigation attorney at Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP.

Hon. Tanya R. Kennedy is an Associate Justice of the Appellate Division, First Department. Prior to her appointment in July 2020, Justice Kennedy served as a Justice of the Supreme Court, New York County, commencing in January 2016, after election in November 2015. She was elected to Civil Court in November 2005 and thereafter served in Criminal Court, Civil Court, Family Court, as Acting Supreme Court Justice, and as Supervising Judge of Civil Court, New York County. She is also a former Adjunct Professor at Fordham University School of Law, where she taught a Juvenile Justice seminar for ten years.

Justice Kennedy is a member of the Board of Directors of the New York City Bar Association and past chair of the organization’s Special Committee to Encourage Judicial Service. She is also an Executive Committee member of the Women in Law Section of the New York State Bar Association; member of the Committee on Pattern Jury Instructions of the Association of Supreme Court Justices of the State of New York; member of the Board of Overseers of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, where she received her law degree; and an Advisory Board Member of Penn State Law. Justice Kennedy is also the Past President of the National Association of Women Judges (NAWJ). 

A frequent speaker at various conferences, she has received numerous professional awards, including the 2021 Distinguished Alumna Award from Penn State University; the 2021 John E. Higgins, Esq. Diversity Trailblazer Award from the New York State Bar Association; the 2020 Inspiration Award from the New York Coalition of Women’s Initiatives in Law; the 2019 Igniting Change Award Recipient and the 2012 Patricia L. Irvin Personal Service Award from the Association of Black Women Attorneys; the 2017 Diversity Leadership Award from Penn State Law; and the 2015 Alumni of the Year Award from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.

Justice Kennedy is also an ABWA member, as well as a life member of the Metropolitan Black Bar Association (MBBA) and a former MBBA Board Member.